President Obama has just nominated Merrick Garland to serve on the Supreme Court. Garland is a Washington lawyer and jurist who is chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Not to mention Garland was a finalist for the first two Supreme Court vacancies that President Obama had filled.
When announcing his choice, Obama said he followed “a rigorous and comprehensive process.” He says that he reached out to both parties to get opinions from “across the spectrum.” He says Garland is,
“widely recognized not only as one of America’s sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even-handedness and excellence.”
Garland will take place of justice Antonin Scalia who passed away just last month. Obama says this is not a responsibility that he takes lightly. He went on to say,
“I said I would take this process seriously, and I did. I chose a serious man and an exemplary judge.To find someone with such a long career in public service, marked by complex and sensitive issues, to find someone who just about everyone not only respects but genuinely likes, that is rare and it speaks to who Merrick Garland is, not just as lawyer but as a man.”
Source: WashingtonPost
